Employment Offered

Employment Offered

Date Submitted

03/18/19

Position Title

Organic and Sustainable Farm Manager Wanted for Long Island Farm

Position Description

Background
Youngs Farm was founded in 1893 and is one of the few remaining working farms in Nassau County. It is currently being operated by the 4th and 5th generation of the Youngs family. We are located less than 30 miles from New York City in a bucolic setting with high quality schools nearby. In addition to the farm itself, we have a farm stand and bakery on premise. The store sells our produce, baked goods, prepared foods which our made in our commercial kitchen and a selection of grocery items and housewares.

We can potentially assist with housing, but we feel our compensation is sufficient to support housing costs locally. We have approximately 15 acres of land in production. Roughly ⅓ of that land is rotated into cover crop annually. There are a few different opportunities to expand into adjacent land in the near future. We have been farming organically for 3 seasons, with the long term intention of organic certification - the candidate would have an integral role in the long term planning of the farm and its growing, harvest and management methodology.

Description
The farm manager will be responsible for the management, planning and oversight of all greenhouse and field production. This includes, but is not limited to:

-Planning and managing all aspects of seed ordering, seed starting and transplanting
-Coordination of farm crew training, schedule and daily responsibilities
-Soil testing, soil amendments, composting and cover cropping for soil quality and erosion control
-Irrigation maintenance, management and upgrades
-Harvesting, washing and packing for retail according to GAPs and FSMA specifications
-Use and maintenance of mechanized farm equipment - including but not limited to tractors, spaders, discs, bed shapers, plastic layers, various cultivators, mowers and spreaders
-Improve and/or maintain overall cleanliness and organization of field production equipment and farm specific spaces
-Appropriate record keeping for GAPs and FSMA approval, Organic Certification and farm expenses

Approximately 95% of the produce is sold directly to the consumer out of our on-site store which is open 11 months out of the year. The candidates ability to teach and communicate is essential - both to our staff and our customers. Our ideal candidate would proactively seek out and implement new agricultural theories and concepts and keep up to date with current farm related publications and news. Strong management, cleanliness, organization and record keeping are also very important to us. The business is trending upward and we would love for the candidate to be able to grow along with the business. The position is year-round with significantly reduced time in the winter months to be determined. We have implemented some season extension practices through our heated greenhouse but also with caterpillar tunnels. Ideally, the farm manager would help us continue to offer more produce year round. There is additionally potential to develop the wholesale business whether via restaurants or distributors if we could significantly increase our produce supply. Finally, you will be asked to assist personally and/or with your staff with other parts of the business on an as needed basis, particularly around holidays - i.e. helping sort orders around major holidays, especially Thanksgiving, odd repairs/projects in moments of urgency or lulls in field work, etc.

Qualifications and Skills
-5 years of managerial commercial farming experience in organic production, certified preferred
-Experience planning and managing planting and work schedules with farm staff; setting goals and critical timelines
-Extensive understanding of crop rotation, cover cropping, irrigation and soil maintenance
-Knowledge of farm equipment to ensure proper function and maintenance
-Positive, energetic attitude and open communication
-Willingness to take initiative, think and act proactively to solve problems and assess priorities, and manage a variety of tasks calmly and effectively
-Experience dealing with health, safety and environmental standards and regulations
-Knowledge of and experience with the organic certification process
-Comfort with technology and computers is also very important. Experience with grant writing/applications is plus.

Salary and Benefits
Salary will be commensurate with experience - we would estimate $40-60,000. Employee will be eligible to participate in benefits packages, which includes medical. Please feel free to contact us - we’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.